On Working Hard

Ever since I was young, one of the things reinforced by my parents—all four of them, my two dads and my two moms—was the value of working hard.

This upbringing taught me it’s actually wrong to think you should work smart, not hard.

You should do both.

But if you must choose just one, you’re better off working hard, because working hard over the long term will actually make you smart. You should work hard at becoming smart.

1. Building the Foundation: Health and Stamina

It’s fundamental to work hard. To work hard effectively, you must set yourself up to be healthy physically and mentally.

That means sleeping enough, exercising every day, not eating too much, and choosing food that enables you to remain lightweight, capable of running hard for a long time effectively.

The body is a great metaphor for the mind.

2. The Obstacle Course Mind

For your mind to work hard, it should be lean, strong, and capable of enduring a long time—less like a heavy lifter and more like an obstacle-course runner.

With a mind like that, you can conquer anything. You can climb the tallest mountains, swing the longest distances, and more.

If you keep working hard, you can become good at anything you want. There’s no secret and no shortcut.

3. Repetition and Mastery

Bruce Lee said, “I’m not afraid of the man who practiced 10,000 kicks once. I’m afraid of the man who practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

This principle translates into many areas of life.

4. Hard Work is an Internal Judge

Most people, if asked whether they work hard, will say yes, because internally everyone has a judge of their own willpower.

Nobody else can truly know whether you’re working hard, since only you know your starting point. It’s an internal judge, jury, and prosecutor.

People can see from the outside and say you’re slacking, but the truth is on the inside.

5. Working Hard is a Choice

Working hard, in my opinion, is personal and hard to scientifically prove.

It’s similar to the placebo effect, because working hard is a choice—just like believing or healing can be a choice. Regardless of whether you get the actual drug or the placebo, believing makes a real difference.

When you believe you can achieve something, you naturally work harder and don’t give up. Belief makes you stronger and more capable.

6. Love as an Example of Hard Work

This principle applies to many things, such as love.

When people say they’re no longer in love or they have commitment issues or they’re avoidant—it’s a choice.

Are you willing to work hard at love and being a good person, or are you a victim of your emotions?

It’s a choice like anything else.

7. Overcoming Hate and Betrayal

When you genuinely love the world and the people around you—even your enemies and those who’ve repeatedly betrayed you—you gain power over hate.

You no longer harbor hate, only love for others. This choice makes you incredibly strong.

It doesn’t mean ignoring what they’ve done, but rather accepting people and feeling better about them. It’s okay not to be okay, but you can overcome grudges and hardships.

8. Working Hard Across Life

Working hard applies broadly—to training for a marathon, recovering from an injury, or building a startup when everyone else gives up.

If you keep going because of grit, it’s fundamentally the same thing: working hard.

Success in life revolves around working hard—whether to build meaningful relationships or professional success.

9. No Perfect Fairness, but a Universal Truth

I’m not saying everyone must work equally hard; it’s not a comparison.

People start from different positions. A trust-fund kid starting with $10 million might be lazy yet succeed just fine.

Success and effort are not directly proportional. However, everyone I’ve met who successfully built something from nothing worked hard. They cared deeply and committed completely.

11. You Can Work Hard at Everything

You don’t have to prioritize everything simultaneously. You can’t run a marathon all day, every day.

But you can prioritize multiple important things each day. Family, career, learning new skills, exercise, sleep—you can dedicate effort daily to each.

12. The Greatest Strength and Greatest Weakness

If working hard is the greatest strength, the greatest weakness is believing you don’t have control over it.

Believing you lack control is the true weakness.

13. Teaching Others to Work Hard

I have good news: I believe I’m very good at teaching people how to work hard. It relates closely to work ethic.

People who know me, who’ve worked alongside me, who’ve seen my successes and failures, would probably universally say I work extremely hard and don’t give up.

Sometimes I don’t prioritize something right away—but when I’m ready, I address it. You don’t need to address everything at once, as long as the intention to work hard and improve remains clear.

14. On Working Too Hard (The 80% Rule)

I’ve also seen people who work too hard. You need to work hard today in a way that allows you to work equally hard tomorrow. And not just tomorrow, but every day after that, for the rest of your life. This makes your effort sustainable.

I think that’s the optimal way of minimizing regrets. Work hard today, but only to the degree you’re willing to sustain forever. This mindset is powerful. It will actually force you to work slightly less today, but over the long term you’ll outpace those who push excessively hard with the goal of retiring quickly. I think the mindset of working extremely hard just for a short period, like two years before retiring, is naive. It limits your potential and can easily lead to depression. People who push too hard inevitably end up depressed and struggling in their lives.

For me, the right balance is about 80%. In almost everything I do, I aim for about 80% effort. Eighty percent is right. Even when eating a meal, I stop around 80% full. If you do things to 80%, you’ll reach a point where it’s good enough, and you can move on.